Some buildings can't be rebuilt. We make sure they don't have to be.
Centuries-old missions, adobes, and landmark structures sit in the path of wildfire every year. Our EPA Safer Choice–certified treatment hardens them without harming the materials, the visitors, or the air around them.
The problem
California is the home of more than twenty Spanish-era missions, hundreds of historic adobes, and thousands of structures on the National Register that sit inside known wildfire corridors. Many were built more than two centuries ago — wood-framed roofs, hand-hewn timbers, adobe walls. If they burn, they don't come back.
Conventional fire retardants are a non-starter for landmark structures. They stain delicate plaster, off-gas around irreplaceable woodwork, and require respirators that staff and visitors don't have. So most landmarks just go undefended.
Featured project: Mission San Juan Capistrano
Founded in 1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano is one of the oldest standing structures in California — and an active community landmark visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year. The mission sits in Orange County, where multiple recent fires have come within a few miles of its grounds.
We're using the mission as our flagship landmark project. Our EPA Safer Choice–certified retardant can be applied to wooden roof structures, exposed timbers, and the surrounding defensive perimeter without compromising historical materials or air quality. Every step of the install is documented and shared with mission boards and historic preservation societies across the state.
What we do for a landmark
- Pre-season fire-readiness assessment with the property's caretakers and local fire authority
- Treatment of wooden roof systems, exposed timbers, and outbuildings with our non-toxic retardant
- Defensive perimeter installation around the structure and visitor pathways
- Documentation of methods and materials, shared openly with other historical sites
Why it matters
Once a 250-year-old timber burns, no rebuild brings it back. Wildfire defense for landmarks is preservation work — and the chemistry to do it without harming what we're trying to save has, until recently, simply not existed.
What's next
We're building a roster of California landmarks at meaningful wildfire risk and partnering with historical foundations to deploy treatments site by site. If you steward a property on the National Register or California Historical Landmark list, get in touch.
Help us defend the next landmark.
Your gift funds the assessments, the treatments, and the engineering work that lets us bring fire-resilience to structures that can't tolerate conventional chemistry.
Donate to landmarksTax information
Safer Chemistry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations to specific projects are deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.